TEHRAN- Khangiran gas field is one of the most remote gas fields of Iran that produces about 10 percent of gas consumed in the country.

This gas field is located 25 kilometers northwest of Sarakhs border city, and 180 kilometers northeast of Mashhad capital city, in the northeast Khorasan Razavi province.

East Oil and Gas Production Company (EOGPC), a subsidiary of Iranian Central Oil Fields Company (ICOFC), is in charge of developing the field.

Khangiran is one of the largest operational areas of Iran's oil industry, so that the distance between the two wells in this area is about 60 kilometers.

The gas produced in Khangiran region is the main source of production and supply of consumed gas in eastern Iran, but this gas is one of the sourest gases in the world due to its high sulfur content.

Khangiran field high pressure gas, with 3.5 percent sulfur and 6.5 percent carbon dioxide, is a very corrosive gas for wells, facilities and pipelines, and due to the high toxicity of hydrogen sulfide gas, its release in the environment is also very dangerous.

The toxicity of the gas in this field is such that they have to use masks and oxygen capsules to check the condition of the wells.

The temperature difference between -25 degrees in winter and +50 degrees in summer is another challenge in Khangiran region. The extreme cold of winter and the oppressive heat of summer have made it very difficult to extract gas from this field.

Proximity to the border and remoteness of the region also has its dangers and problems. The field shares a 256-kilometer border with Turkmenistan, and the dispersion of wells in the production area has made it difficult to produce from these wells.

With all these difficulties and dangers, the gas extracted from the wells must be refined in a complex and costly process in order to be usable.

The gas extracted from Khangiran field is refined in Shahid Hashemi-Nejad Refinery (known as Khangiran Gas Refinery), and sent to six northern provinces and has an important role in the stability of the country's gas network.

Thousands of specialized personnel are working round-the-clock in Khangiran field and Shahid Hashemi-Nejad Refinery so that the production of gas from this field will not be stopped even a second.

At present, the total gas production from Khangiran field and extraction from Shourijeh underground gas storage (UGS) in the region has reached about 60 million cubic meters per day.